The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1887-09-15

uCNel
.Sententious sage!''
.She blazes up and goes out like the
electric lights on Fifth Avenue. the
flashes Of her illustration only illnm-
mating the darkness of her reasoning.
Now that you have finished your sum-
mary the average man, let me show
You the flaws in your argument. though
it is like pointing out the holes in a
mosquito netting: Let us 60 to the sit
uation of the poem, imagining me the
hero. and you as the ideal woman (mark
my superior ciyility). the heroine
.sIn the first place, then, wanting
not to love me is not Indifference. The
very resistance implies that | have
reached the strong hold Of your heart,
and your only hope mt best is to hold
the citadel. 1t is a question of driving
me out. not Of preventing my entrance.
Now this indicates one of two states
of mind. You think either that you
are not worthy of me, or that | am
not worthy Of you. fit be the former.
l will defend the case 10 the last appeal.
with Cupid as referee and Hymen as
witness. Ii it be the latter, would
ask, Why do you doubt me?' If my
fortune is too small. farewell Nv
pride says it. and pride is the mortal
foe of vanity. though You seem to con-
fuse them. If you doubt my consistency,
| claim the right to prove it. If you
scorn my intellect, | have at least
enough to appreciate your merits.
Yes, and your faults, too, by Jove.'
..Sir, you forget that you are speak
ing Of the ideal woman, who presumably
had no very glaring faults. even in the
eyes of so intellectual lover as New
York lawyer
"There comes in your provincial acer-
bity. as usual; but you shall not draw
me off from the main line of battle To
any inter-civitic skirmishes. Suppose
we take a fresh start. and let me turn
inquisitor. / should like to have you
interpret for me the heroine's state OF
mind. confess have always thought
her an arrant coquette. who withdrew
only to make the pursuit more eager.
The young man looked up with a
triumph of delight in his brown eyes as
he saw that the last shot had told, and
by the interlaced fingers and rising to
the discussion in dead earnest. He
often wondered at his own perpetual
disposition to quarrel with Miss Grey,
and yet he told himself that she was
never SO charming as when she was
downright angry, and descended from
her transcendcntal hobby to fight on
foot. Slowly and somewhat disdainfull,
she replied to his sally:
..If you choose to put SO flippant a
construction upon such subtle and
beautiful revelation Of woman's heart
you are Of course at liberty to do SO. just
as YOU would be at liberty to lithograpl
the Sistine Madonna, or parody Para
disc Lost but you must excuse your
friends from sharing your enjoyment Of
the productions. For myself do not
care to discuss the subject further. for
will not hear it handled like a second
class Irritation A mans touch on tho
strings of sentiment s.always heav.
and makes one cringe like a child.
crash on the piano.
ION the contrary, the hand of littl,
employment hath the daintier sense.
and a woman's on the keys is too pro
fessional; but proceed, priestcss. will
the sacred rites of Interpretation. and
will bow to the East like dervish til
the service is ended
ITO tell the truth. somewhat more
reyerential attitude Of mind toward
things intellectual rs well Us moral
would do you no harm. Perhaps tina,
was just the lack which the heroine
felt in her lover"
| mot she! She saw that he wa
growing thin, and she not followed
cheek nor faded eye. and altogether
did not like the prospect Of nursing
him through long siege Of consump
ton; SO she preferred to go into /
decline herself
"Flippart again. and too literal
His ralor was the result Of his emotion
sicklied Ger with the pale east o
thought but seriously | think thi
was one of those cases of subtle mind
reading which Tennyson so often FLASHED
out before he was overtaken with hi
passion for the pecrage and footli ghts
He makes the girls forsee that incom
patability of mind and Temperament
which, generally discovered after mar
riage, makes grist for the divorce mills
and though she feels the magnetic pow
er of her lover, and is drawn to him b,
force stronger than her own will, sh
appeals to him to save her from herself
not to allow her to act from thi
mistaken though inevitable impuls
against the judgment of her sane
hours. She says to him in substance
Il love you, but you are not M,
ideal. Our aims and purposes, on
whole theories of life are at odds, an,
though we do not feel the clashing now
or feel it only as the stimulus to keene
thoughts we should feel it more an
more when we were joined togethe
in the unyielding bonds Of matrimony
Oxen that want to browse in differen
corners of the meadow feel the fret 0
the yoke
Hilda Grey paused to take breath
and bringing back her gaze from tn
vague stretch of ocean. let it fall Of
her companion. Startled at somethin,
she saw rising in his eyes she snddenl,
realized with a sense Of dismay that sh
had drifted out from the safe footing o
abstract ideas, and that the undertoy
was fast carrying her beyond her dept
into sea which she dreaded for her
self, and had still less mind to b
followed into by her comrade.
But it was too late. Before she coul,
open her lips he had plunged in
MAY | tell you what his answer woul,
be? He would tell her that life was
question not of browsing. but of pillow
ing, and that in spite Of the frctting 0
the yoke. the oxen could do bette
work together than alone; that h
would be accommodating enough L
browse in her corner i'm off hours; tina
she was his ideal if he was not hers